Rare Comic Books — How To Evaluate The Risks Before You Invest In Any Rare Comic Book
Too many casual comic collectors have charged gung ho into investing and speculating in rare comic books, without evaluating the risk involved in their purchases.
Let’s take Hulk #1 for example. At the time of this article is being published, a NM/M copy is valued at about $6000 (current Overstreet price). If you’re able to buy this book at $1500, it is an absolutely no risk book…but at $12,500 it is a high risk book.
I define risk as the chance you take that you’ll be able to make a reasonable profit over a reasonable time period. Obviously the time that you are willing to wait for resale is going to also make a considerable difference.
In this example, you could easily flip the $1500 Hulk #1 book within a week by selling it on ebay and probably at least double your money. If, however, you plunked down $12,500 for this comic, it will take some time to recoup your purchase price.
As a general rule, you should follow the following advice: Paying significantly over guide on NM or better books is OK if you’re planning on holding the books at least three years and preferably five.
Also, paying a premium on rare comic books is only a good idea on books that will remain popular over a long period of time. You don’t want to pay premiums on hot rare comic books, as they have a history of fluctuating up and down, as opposed to rising steadily in value. You also want to avoid, in general, rare comics that have a history of steady price increases.
For example, as an investment, I wouldn’t recommend paying three or four times guide for any post code ECs. In fact, I wouldn’t pay that on any EC unless it was in perfect condition and you loved the book. ECs are some of the best comics ever made, but they aren’t the best books for investment.
When buying older, rare comic books for long term investments, stay with high demand comics, Ideal choices would be first issues and first appearances.
However, if these comics are too expensive for your budget, then stay with popular comics. Some examples are: Golden Age Heroes, SpiderMan appearances, First appearances of key villains, etc. These types of comics are classics and will always increase in value.
As you are looking at investing in rare comics, here are some broad, risk guidelines to follow:
Low Risk Comic Investments
. High grade key Marvels
. High grade key DCs
. High grade 10 cent DCs
. Key Golden Age DCs
. Any high grade Golden Age DC
. High grade Timelys
. 1950′s Timelys Superhero
Moderate Risk Comic Investments
. Low Grade minor Silver Age DCs
. High grade Golden Age key issues (non-Ducks)
. High grade Dell Comics (non-Ducks)
. High grade Warner Bros.
. High grade Hanna Barbera
. Low grade 1960s & 70s Marvels
. High grade esoteric 1940s & ’50s
. Seduction books
. Atlas
. 1950′s horror
. ACG high grade
Mid To High Risk Comic Investments
. Barks Ducks
. Low grade Golden Age keys
. Mid-Low grade non-Spider-Man
Marvels, l964-67
. Mid grade DC minor keys
. High grade l940′s Timely
. Funny Animals
. Westerns
High Risk Comic Investments
. Current “hot” books
. Charlton Funny Animal
. Low grade mid ’60s DCs & Marvels
. Low Grade Harveys
. Low grade ACGs
. Archies
. Romance
Good luck in your pursuit of your comic investments!
For additional information on investing and selling comics pick check out: ComicSellingSecrets.com
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October 5th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
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